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20th Sunday in Ordinary TimeBy Fr. Victor Feltes We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The New Testament Letter to the Hebrews celebrates the faith and actions of Old Testament heroes: beginning with Abel, Enoch, and Noah; Abraham and Sarah; Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph; Moses and Rahab; Israel’s judges Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah; David, Samuel, and all the prophets. Then comes the passages of today’s second reading: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” These witnesses surrounding us who can help us follow Jesus are not far away. As The Letter to the Hebrews tells...

In both Orthodoxy and Catholicism, today — August 15 — is the feast of the transition of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, into eternal life. Catholics call it the Assumption, because they believe she was “assumed” (taken up) into heaven at the end of her earthly days without tasting death; Orthodox call it the Dormition (falling asleep), because we Orthodox believe that she died, like every other human being. (A brief discussion explaining the theological distinctions between the Assumption and the Dormition can be found here; it has to do with the different ways the Christian East and the Christian West think of original sin). Both traditions share the belief that God took up to heaven the body of Mary, which is why there is no tomb for her anywhere in the world...

In one of his Blackford Oakes novels, William F. Buckley, Jr. had a character crack a Wagnerian joke along these lines: What is Siegfried? Siegfried is the opera that begins at 7 p.m. and when you wake up three hours later, you’re shocked to find out that it’s only 7:30. That was certainly my experience when, in solidarity with my late father-in-law, a wonderful man and devout Wagner fan, I attended the third installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle while living in Seattle — in those days, one of the few places in the world besides Bayreuth, Germany, that regularly produced the Ring. Sitting there while the caterwauling droned on for what seemed a virtual eternity, I was reminded of high school classes that never seemed to end, the minute-hand on the classroom clock moving at the pace of a Bront...

The meme popped up on my Facebook feed, shared by a friend and liked by a lot of people. It said, “Jesus didn’t dine with tax collectors and sinners because he wanted to appear inclusive, tolerant, and accepting. He ate with them to call them to a changed and fruitful life, to die to self and live for him. His call is transformation of life not affirmation of identity.” It would take some time to explain how bad this meme is, starting with its answering a claim no one ever makes. Does anyone think that Jesus did what he did because he “wanted to appear inclusive,” or to impress others? Of course not. But those sharing this quote are not really talking about Jesus. They are accusing people today of pretense and virtue-signaling, and of abusing Jesus’ example as a way to excuse sinners and t...

Popes rarely, in my experience, produce the kinds of five-star news soundbites that go viral. However, Pope Francis has used striking language when addressing one of the hot-button issues of this or any other age — abortion. That was one of several topics woven into this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (CLICK HERE to tune that in), which focused on another elite-media political feature about President Joe Biden’s “devout” approach to practicing the Catholic faith. Here is that New York Times headline: “Biden Is an Uneasy Champion on Abortion. Can He Lead the Fight in Post-Roe America?” The sub-head is just as provocative: “A practicing Catholic, President Biden has long sought a middle ground on abortion. But activists see the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as a sign that Democrats have tipt...

There are several ways to resolve this supposed dilemma. One would be to affirm that sometimes it is the will of the Spirit to put heretics to death. After all, didn’t God on some occasions command the use of capital punishment for certain offenses connected with false religion (Exod. 22:18,20; Deut. 13:5,8-10,15, 18:20)? Another would be to point out that when the Church censures a proposition, it means that the Church finds something about the proposition problematic. But since the proposition is phrased in the offender’s own words, it is often phrased badly, and so we cannot take the Church’s position to be the opposite of the offending proposition. For example, if the Church chose to condemn the proposition “The sky is white,” we could not then infer that the Church adhered to the...

SAINTS & ART: St. Clare remains very relevant to women of all times, including our own. Chiara Offreduccio (1194-1253) came into the world in a wealthy family in Assisi but, like her spiritual mentor St. Francis of Assisi, renounced the world to follow Christ in a life of strict poverty. She founded and wrote the rule for Order of Poor Ladies which, after her death, would be known as the Order of Poor Clares, the second branch of the Franciscan Order (the male branch, which existed prior to it, being the first).  Like St. Francis and like St. Dominic, whose feast we marked earlier this week, Clare did not find the decision to enter the religious life without resistance from her family. It’s said that Clare heard St. Francis preach during Lent 1212 and decided to follow in his foot...

Perhaps Requiring Engaged Couples to Wait a Year or More to Marry Is an Undue Burden On June 15, the Vatican released a 97-page document, “Catechumenal Itineraries for Married Life.” The document, which was published by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, is a pastoral tool intended to help dioceses and pastoral staff develop effective marriage preparation programs that will lead couples to deeper love and a greater appreciation for God’s role in their family life. This is good! The Church should be an influence in all areas of our lives — in education, at the job, in family life and in marriage. Married couples, Pope Francis said in the document, make up the majority of the Catholic faithful and are pillars in parish life. It’s only reasonable for the Church to strive to strengthen ...

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Hey everybody, Today is the Feast of St. Edith Stein, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. Actually, that’s a pretty good place to start.  If you’re like me, it’s likely you don’t know much about Edith Stein – the Catholic convert, Carmelite nun, and martyr who died 80 years ago today in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. She died as Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was a Catholic nun, but she was also Jewish, and the Church has recognized that she died “a daughter of Israel,” alongside millions of other Jews who were murdered in the Shoah.  In fact, she spoke before she died of her desire to offer herself as a sacrifice for “her people” – for the Jewish people suffering in the anti-Semitic brutality of the Nazi regime. Eighty years after her death, Edith Ste...

“These people will also discover the seemingly insignificant conventions their predecessors have destroyed. Things like this: When it is proper for the young to be silent in front of their elders, when they should make way for them or stand up in their presence….”Socrates, in Plato’s Republic It is easy to deplore the state of manners today. It is difficult to discern how to address it. A first step is to remind ourselves of just how important manners are, and what we all miss when we lack them. Manners makes life truly human in several ways. I will focus on one central way. They cultivate reverence for elders. What might seem just one moral disposition among many is in reality an irreplaceable cornerstone. Why? At the center of our current moral, social, and cultural malaise is a rejectio...

One Twitter user wrote, in response to Akin’s post, “I’m sorry Jimmy but this survey is rubbish, it is very clear that the one who made it is out of touch with the real challenges facing the Church nowadays (lack of reverence, suppression of tradition, relativism, religious indifferentism, going with the Zeitgeist etc. etc.).” I’m sorry Jimmy but this survey is rubbish, it is very clear that the one who made it is out of touch with the real challenges facing the Church nowadays (lack of reverence, suppression of tradition, relativism, religious indifferentism, going with the Zeitgeist etc. etc.) pic.twitter.com/gjBhRBWdX8 — Ranner 🇻🇦🌑 (@nodexallowed) August 9, 2022 While the overwhelming majority of comments to Akin’s post were negative, there was some praise ...